It was a Pleasant Charade
by MakingPaperCranes
Summary: I was thinking it would be nice if skulduggery could have a crush on someone and I came up with this idea. Its not a Valduggery but I thought it might be cute...
1. Chapter 1

_hey this is a story about if skulduggerywas in love. it is not, and i repeat, not, a valduggery but it thought it was quite cute, the thought of skulduggery having a crush on someone. it takes place after mortal coil and all the events have stayed the same. i dont own any of the carachters othere than charade. the first chapter is slightly boring but i think it might get better. or atleast i hope it will... annny hoo read and reveiw and i hope you enjoy...

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They strolled into the sanctuary on one of their routine call ins, to finish off some of the mounds of paperwork which had piled up on to skulduggery's desk. This, he had told Valkyrie many times, was why he did not often choose to have a desk, as it was a place where paper work could be piled upon.

They found grand mage revel in the foyer. He was talking with a woman and when skulduggery caught sight of her he simply stopped. Valkyrie chuckled at the sight of her friend and walked forward, to join the conversation.

Valkyrie had met the women before, on quite a few occasions. She was called Charade Beam and she was a good friend of Erskine and Ghastly. They had all known each other during the war and Erskine had once let slip in a conversation with Valkyrie, that skulduggery had that of a small puppy dog crush on her. This was made painstakingly obvious every time he was in a conversation with her, as the oh so charming and debonair skulduggery pleasant, tripped over his words and she was sure if he could blush, his bones would be bright red.

Charade turned at the approach of Valkyrie, smiled and greeted Valkyrie with a heart warming hug. She was the same height as skulduggery and she always looked good; but not in a perfect way like china. You could tell that charade joined in with the fighting and she was proud of it. She had large, dark forest green eyes, with flecks of amber dancing through them and plump pink lips and a regular sized nose. She was often found in jeans and a shirt, but today she had chosen something slightly less impractical if not slightly more feminine. She wore a deep blue knee length dress which gathered at one shoulder and hugged her figure, and floated out down near her knees. She had past shoulder length, tightly curled, chocolate brown hair, which today had been gently pulled into a band at the back of her head leaving the curls to tumble down across her shoulders.

Valkyrie loved talking to charade as she could always come up with some sort of story to make skulduggery squirm in embarrassment, and she loved teasing him. She was also one of the best combat fighters Valkyrie had seen, and she boasted on a regular basis, that she had beaten skulduggery in almost every fight he had tried with her. Of course he always said that he was taking it easy on her, and that he would never truly unleash his skills on a girl.

Charade was an adept, with a highly unusual skill, that had come in handy whilst fighting the war with Mevolent. She could change her form into any person she wanted, within a blink of an eye.

She had told Valkyrie that she had been part of the undercover team for the Irish sanctuary and that this was the reason behind the combat training. She had said that it was no use becoming the enemy, if you could not at least fight them off when they found out it was you.

"Valkyrie! It's so good to see you!" and she smiled broadly at Valkyrie making her feel warm inside. Charade was a mage who looked young for her age, as she looked to be in her mid to late twenties, but was actually about 350. She had an English accent with a touch of Irish in there.

And then skulduggery walked forward and stuck out his hand,

"Good to see you again Charade." He said slowly, trying to get each word right. Charade raised one eyebrow to him and batted his hand away and surrounded him in a bone crushing hug, he then lifted her up and spun her around. She laughed and batted at his arms to get him to put her down. She smiled at him, and Valkyrie knew that skulduggery was smiling too.

"I have to spend more time in Ireland! Its official" she smiled not taking her eyes off of skulduggery, him looking into hers. Erskine cleared his throat and they both turned to look at him,

"Well then, now that that moment is over," both he and valkyrie raised an eyebrow at the two sanding in front of them and chuckled "you were saying, Charade, that you didn't have a place to stay tonight?"

"oh yeah, I was just gunna call in at the midnight hotel, but it seems to have moved to Egypt for the night, I may as well just go to an ordinary ho-"

"I have a soom rare" skulduggery cut in with.

"... That's ... lovely skulduggery; I mean I don't, quite, understand what a soom is but, it sounds nice..." Charade looked confused yet amused at the detectives slip up, and Valkyrie bit her lip in order to try and stifle the giggles which threatened to erupt.

"I mean a _room spare_" skulduggery quickly interrupted with, now Valkyrie knew he would've blushed if he could.

"That sounds more like it, and you wouldn't mind?"

"Of course not! How long are you staying for?"

"Well I just arrived from England not more then an hour ago, hence the dress, but I think I'm just in town for the annual ball tomorrow and of course to see the new GRAND mage! I can't believe you didn't tell me sooner!" and she playfully slapped Erskine's arm. Ghastly strode in at this point and charade turned to him, "and you!" she pointed and Ghastly looked shocked, "on the council of elders, I never thought I'd see the day"

"hello to you too charade" he gave a limp smile and hugged her "well ill try to catch up with you later but right now..." and he trailed off, gesturing his hands to the left, and turned to wander back down the hall. He hadn't been quite as chatty since Tanith had gone.

"Ah, something else you forgot to mention as well there?" she just looked quizzical at the two men standing in front of her. They both looked to their shoes and Valkyrie went quiet. "It's a long story" she said softly.

"Well I don't need to be told right now do I?" she smiled gently at Valkyrie and gave her another hug, Erskine and skulduggery got to talking. "Now let's see you smile, what is there for me to tease Mr. Pleasant about this time?"

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i hope you didnt think it was too sucky... the next chapters should be better, but be warned there will only be a small amount of action in this story... but please read it anyway :)


	2. Chapter 2

another chapter :) please read,enjoy, reveiw. i am at your mercy...:P

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They had left charade at the sanctuary for now as she had some more business to attend whilst she was there, and skulduggery had offered to take Valkyrie home as it was now 2 am.

They sat in the car in silence.

Valkyrie grinned.

Skulduggery sighed... "Go ahead"

"Go ahead with what?" she asked quizzically.

"I know that you've been repressing your attempts at mocking me since we left the sanctuary"

"Oooh that go ahead" she said, her grin growing wider.

"You know if you keep smiling like that your face will get stuck"

"I wouldn't mind, id know why it was there and I think that would be enough"

"You truly are amused aren't you?"

"No I just think that it's adorable that a four hundred year old man can still have a school boy crush"

"I do not have a crush..."

"Oh please, you looove her" Valkyrie smiled again.

"I think it's about time you were in bed"

Valkyrie sighed and opened the door of the Bentley. Just before she closed it she said to him "fine I'll just go up to my _soom_" and grinned even wider than before.

Skulduggery's shoulders sagged.

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Once he had gone back to the sanctuary to pick up Charade, she had finished her work, and they headed home. The journey was filled with reminiscing thoughts, and playful banter, as skulduggery filled Charade in on most things that had happened in the time that she had been away.

Once they were back at the house, he'd shown her the room he had with a bed in just in case Valkyrie had ever needed to stay round, and he pointed out the bathroom. She'd gave him that smile which made his knee caps go weak and thanked him profusely for letting her stay.

As if he could ever turn her down.

An hour or so later he was sitting reading a book in one of his many living rooms, when he heard her padding down the stairs. She walked into the lounge and leaned against the door frame. When skulduggery looked up he saw she was in very short black shorts and a white tank top. She had amazing long and tanned legs, which were strong. Just like her elegant yet dangerous arms. Her hair was sloppily piled into a bun on the top of her head with a few sweet curls escaping and littering her face. He wanted to just gently push them way and feel the curve of her jaw, but he couldn't.

"Hey, just thought I'd let you know I was turning in"

"Oh... okay, well I'm here if you need anything. Just shout"

"Well goodnight" and she walked over and kissed the top of his skull lightly, then walked out and went back to her room.

Skulduggery didn't know what butterflies felt like but he was pretty sure it was close to this.

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Skulduggery's head twitched slightly, as he thought he heard something from up stairs. He thought it was nothing but then he heard it again. He put his book down and thought it was best if he went to go and check up on Charade.

He got outside her room and was about to knock when he heard a strangled moan come from inside the room. He opened the door and found her writhing on the bed sheets,they were tangled around her body as she thrashed, twisting and turning, with beads of sweat on her forehead. She was switching between people, as if she couldn't stop. One minute it was brown hair tanned skin, to black hair pale skin, to blonde and light, to dark. She couldn't settle and he knew it was causing her pain. She screamed and cried out, pulling up from the bed then landing back down and he rushed to her side and caught her as she flung herself up. He held her in a tight embrace as she silently sobbed into his shoulder.

He hushed her and soothed her. As they sat there on the bed he murmured into her ear "you were never very good with the nightmares were you?"

She pulled away from him and smiled weakly, tears running down her cheeks. "Thank you" she whispered and he wiped her tears away and brushed the excess strands of hair from her face, turning her jaw slightly so she was looking at him. He could see the pain festering in her forest green eyes, the amber flecks looking almost gold in the moonlight. All he wanted to do was make that pain go away, but he didn't know how, it hurt him that he couldn't make it better. He pressed his forehead to hers and she closed those beautiful eyes of he leaned back to get up she held onto him.

She wanted him to stay. He knew it too, so he shifted his weight, pulled her round so her back was cradled into his chest and laid back on the bed. She curled up into a ball with her head on his chest, her legs entwined with his.

"Thank you" was all she said again.

"No problem" he said gently back as he pulled his arms around her, making her feel safe in his embrace. Her hand snaked up and she thread her fingers through his, holding on tightly.

He listened to her ragged breathing turn soft, and he felt the rhythm of her heart beat go steady. He longed to tell her how he felt, but he knew he couldn't. He rested his jaw on her head as she fell asleep in his embrace.

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so i hope that wasnt too bad... but you could always press that little buton riight there and tell what you thought. criticism is welcomed just as much as praise. x


	3. Chapter 3

Hope this isnt too bad, i think theres about two chapters left to to go after this, thanks for reading :)

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Charade awoke, her hair ruffled and her sheets strewn. The images of last night came back to her and she shuddered, but then she remembered flying up and being met by a firm yet caring embrace. She'd sobbed on his shoulder; she knew who he was by the faint smell of linen and the ways he hushed her and soothed her. Rubbing small circles in the small of her back. She instantly felt safe when she was in his arms, he mumbled into her ear "You were never very good with the nightmares were you?" he was so caring and kind and gentle that she just wanted him to stay there, forever. She pulled back and wiped the tears from her eyes and lifted her jaw. She tingled every time he touched her, small electric shocks running through her. She could see the sorrow on his emotionless face and it wanted to make her cry all over again. He pressed his forehead to hers and she closed her eyes to try and relax. He tried to get up, but the pit of her stomach dropped when he tried to break the embrace. She was afraid he would be gone, and the daemons would come back to her. She held onto his arm and he understood.

He shifted his weight and moved her so she was cradled against him, she was supposed to be a strong and fearless warrior, but here she was curled up in the lap of the man she loved, like a child. She opened her mouth as if to say the three words she so desperately wanted to say, but instead all that came out was a quiet "thank you", he sighed and hugged her closer. She relaxed and knew that she would always be safe, as long as he was there.

She opened her eyes again, to the soft mourning light which entered through the window, and reached out. He wasn't there and she sat up in a panic. Then caught site of a bright pink post it note attached to the back of the door. She raised an eyebrow at it and stood up to go and get it.

_Sorry I had to leave you on your own today but I had sanctuary business and I didn't want to wake you up. I think Valkyrie left some food in one of the cupboards the last time she was here… ill be back in time to take you to the ball. Feel free to browse the books._

_S.P._

She smile at the note and looked over to the clock. It was already 2:10; she had slept for most of the day. She yawned and stretched and pulled on a pair off jeans, and pulled a shirt over the top of her tank top, she rolled up the sleeves and left the buttons undone, then went off to explore the house.

It was half seven before she decided it was time to take a shower, having explored Skulduggery's house, she had moved into what appeared to be his favourite chair and settled down into a good book. She was just getting out as skulduggery came home.

"Hello?" she heard him shout out,

"Uh yeah I'm up here, hang on a sec." she pulled a towel around her and went down stairs.

"Oh, hello" she smiled at his obvious discomfort "sorry about leaving you, but I had to go to the sanctuary, catch up on some paper work and such"

"Ah well it was no problem, It was nice having a day to myself anyway." She smiled again and he tilted his head,

"I thought we would leave for the mansion at about 9 ish, we don't have to pick Valkyrie up as she has Fletcher, and so it's just you and me"

"Great" and she smiled broadly as she turned and walked away.

He watched her walk up the stairs with her wet hair trailing down her back, and he had to shake himself to remove the thoughts appearing in his empty skull.

It was ten past nine and skulduggery was standing at the bottom of the stairs, leaning on the banister fiddling with a strand coming loose from the sleeve of his tuxedo. He wore a bow tie and a crisp white shirt underneath the jacket. He had put his façade up and was now currently waiting for his guest to finish getting ready. "Charade?" he called up the stairs.

"Yeah I'm coming," he heard from the top of the stairs and he turned to look at her. The wind knocked from his new lungs as he stared up at the sight before him.

Charade was standing at the top of the stairs in a scarlet red dress made of a satin material. It was strapless and tightly fitted to her body and it flowed and spread out at the floor, with a slit up the side to about half way up her thigh, emphasising her long tanned legs. She was wearing shoes the same shade of the dress, but were a patent shiny red. He looked up to her face, which was framed by her chocolate ringlets spreading out and falling over her shoulders, being held back at one side by a jewelled flower pinned just above her ear. Her eyes, with a darker lining, looked especially bright. The gold flecks drawing him in and making him never want to leave her gaze. He looked at her lips, so soft and full, they were the colour of crushed rubies and it was all he could do to not, just grab her and kiss her right there and then.

She stopped the decent of the stairs and gasped at him. There he was in a perfectly tailored tuxedo, with a crisp white shirt and a black bow tie. She looked at the familiar cheek bones and the strong jaw of the man who had cradled her the night before. She looked up into his stormy grey eyes, and he blinked. He had perfect lips and perfect eyes, and hair as dark as midnight. And those eyes, those amazing and beautiful eyes. She just stood and stared.

"Charade?" he said softly, a questioning tone in his voice. As if he was afraid of her reaction.

"You're… you've… how?" she breathed not being able to comprehend. He undid the bow tie and loosened the top two buttons of the shirt and pulled it back to reveal pale and beautiful skin, with a façade tattoo. She looked back into his eyes and smiled.

"You neglected to mention that change." She said softly and he smiled at her. A soft and beautiful smile. Not the same skeletal grin she had seen so many times before. She moved down closer to him so she was inches in front of his face, she reached out and touched the gently blushing cheek.

"So, I take it you like this change?" he said in his velvet voice, so smooth you could get lost in it.

"Yes" she breathed, he felt her sweet breath on his lips, and they stood there admiring each other, each just as amazed as the other at their partner's beauty.

He turned his head and the moment passed. He took her hand and guided her out to the Bentley; they set off towards the mansion.

She was inches away from his face; he could have just leaned in and touched his lips to hers, but no. he had to turn his face. He had to give up on that chance. He wanted to slap himself across the head.

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good? bad? just plain ugly? go on, tell is ...


	4. Chapter 4

About half an hour later they pulled into the driveway of an old decrepit mansion, with no noise coming from the inside, they stepped out of the car, and skulduggery handed his keys to a valet waiting for them.

"Hang on!" Charade stopped, "you won't let me drive the Bentley, but you will let someone you only met 2 seconds ago?"

Skulduggery shrugged, "he is a paid professional, and you quite frankly, have horrendous driving skills."

"I'll have you know that I am a wonderful driver, that lamppost came from nowhere." she said sulkily,

"Oh and I suppose the tree and the wall came from nowhere to?" skulduggery said as he chuckled and held out his arm for Charade to take, and she looped hers threw his elbow and they strode up the front steps.

They creaked with each step closer to the door they took, and the doors creaked as the swung open for them. Everything looked as if it was going to fall apart. They walked down the hall and came to another set of double doors; however these doors were magnificent and reached the ceiling. They were made of a polished oak and silently swung open to reveal a ballroom flowing with life. There were people all around the edges where there had been tables set up, with a bar at one end, and ceiling high windows at the other. There was a large dance floor in the middle of the room with an amazing chandelier hanging from the domed ceiling.

They walked in and skulduggery lifted two glasses of champion, from one of the waiters circling around the room, and handed one to Charade they clicked them together and smiled as they both took sips.

"You know an older and more respected mage like you, in a dress like that, might be frowned upon slightly..." skulduggery said, slyly eying up her scarlet ensemble.

"Pfft! Respected, yeah right! More like hated."

"I'm sure there's someone out there who respects you, somewhere... maybe...actually no, probably not,"

"Hey!" she playfully slapped him on the arm.

"But maybe still frowned upon..."

"And who exactly is going to be doing this frowning? Erskine? Ghastly? Like I've ever really took in their opinions," she said with a small smile playing on her lips. "Unless of course you're going to frown upon my dress? How do you think I look skulduggery?" she opened her eyes wide and frowned slightly as she looked up to skulduggery.

He resisted the urge to tell her that she looked like the most beautiful women in the room, and that he felt the need to laugh at all the other men here because he was standing with her. Instead he simply leaned in placed an arm around her waist and quietly said in her ear, "I think you look wonderful." She blushed and leaned up to peck him on the cheek. His hand on her back sent those familiar shivers down her spine, and caused her finger tips to tingle as she resisted the urge to kiss him full on the lips, and twine her hands through his hair.

Someone called out Charades name and she turned to see a mage from across the room waving at her, she turned back to skulduggery, and reluctantly pulled away from his embrace, disappointed that the moment had to end. She looked up into his eyes and quietly said "I'll see you later, I have to go and see some people." she smiled, turned and walked across the ball room. Skulduggery watched her walk away and then strolled over to the table that Valkyrie and Fletcher were standing at.

"You know, I don't think I'm ever going to get used to you having skin." Valkyrie said. She was wearing a shimmering black gown which puffed out at the waist and stopped at her knees, she also had on a small pair of heels and her dark hair was swept back off of her face. She did, she had to admit, look quite nice. But skulduggery wasn't listening to her; he had his face turned to the other side of the hall. Valkyrie tilted her head and then followed his gaze with her eyes. She saw what he was looking at and smiled. There was certain woman with curly hair and a scarlet red dress, which skulduggery couldn't quite take his eyes off of. Valkyrie cleared her throat loudly and his head twitched and then he flicked round and looked at her, with a smile.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?"

"You're not very subtle, you know," she smirked

"I have simply no idea what you are talking about, my dear, and must I say you look wonderful this evening."

"Thank you, but you know what I'm talking about," she raised an eyebrow at him. He simply smiled and turned back to the crowd and started having a conversation with an old mage that Valkyrie vaguely remembered, from some meeting some time. They stood and chatted for a while until Charade came back over.

"Hey Val!" she smiled as she came over, and Fletchers jaw nearly hit the floor. Valkyrie punched him on the arm and he stopped.

"Hey Charade, this is Fletcher." Valkyrie said as she gestured towards the ogling boy standing next to her.

"Hello," Charade said politely and she stuck out her hand to shake, Fletcher took it and mumbled something. "Is he always like this?" she said turning back to Valkyrie.

"No, there are times that he can actually form words, but those times are rare and fleeting and we value them greatly," she said whilst ruffling his ridiculous hair. Charade laughed and skulduggery re joined the conversation.

"Ahh, Mr. Pleasant! Exactly the person I wanted to see!" Charade said as she grinned at skulduggery.

He raised an eyebrow and looked worried "that doesn't sound good..."

"Nonsense! I was simply wondering if you would care to join me to dance."

He hesitated and was about to reply, when charade grabbed his hand and started pulling him away "you should know by now that I wasn't going to take no for an answer," she grinned and turned to wink at Valkyrie.

She led the way into the middle of the dance floor, and she raised her hand to his shoulder. He slid his hand down her curves so it came comfortably to her waist. They took each other's hands as they started waltzing in time with the melody playing. She gave him a smile and said "now, that's not so bad is it?" skulduggery raised an eyebrow,

"I'll have you know that I am an excellent dancer"

"Really? Well then prove it" and she winked at him and he smiled, still staring into her eyes, they started to move slightly faster and in wider circles. They were moving as one elegant force, flamboyantly moving their way around the now practically empty dance floor, as people watched them from the sides. The couple hardly took any notice of their spectators; they were too busy getting lost in each other's eyes. He spun her out and pulled her back in close to his body and they spun round the dance floor. Charades dramatic dress flowing out behind her, in arcs of scarlet red. Two beautiful people emphasized by the elegance of their dancing. Suddenly skulduggery's hands shifted as he lowered her in to a dramatic dip, her hair brushing the floor as he stared down at her, with those amazing grey eyes.

"Did I tell you, you look beautiful tonight?" he said softly, so only they could hear, Charade smiled and blushed, he pulled her up and spun her around, then pulling her in and hugging her tightly to his body, he leaned forward and kissed her soft red lips, she slowly pulled her arms up around his neck, and run her hands through his hair, he held her around the waist, his hands moving up her back and he could feel her lips pulling up into a smile as she pulled away, and planted a soft kiss to his cheek. "You've no idea how long I've wanted to do that" skulduggery said breathlessly, as he rested his forehead against hers.

"Not as long as I've wanted to" and they both smiled. This was the point when they realised that most of the crowd were watching them, and there was a faint applause as the music died, and they heard from the other side of the ball room, "it's about time!" and they turned to see Valkyrie, Fletcher and Erskine, all grinning madly from their table. He took one last look into her deep green eyes, filled with passion, and snuck his hand into hers and leaned over and whispered into her ear "you know, we make quite a good couple." Charade smiled wider, squeezed his hand and they walked back over to the table, and the dance floor filled in and the party resumed.


	5. Chapter 5

the final chapter now, it has finally ended... , but if you didnt think it was too bad then leav u a message. (sorry about the good guy/bad guy banter, im not so good at that) R&R xx

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The ball was marvellous, people were dancing and laughing and chatting, there was a cacophony of sound, the music was playing and the Champaign flowing, as some of Irelands most powerful mages had one night of fun. Skulduggery was stood talking to a man he had met about fifty years ago; he had the ability to levitate small things with his mind. He said that if he tried hard he could manage a small car. He was saying some anecdote or something, but skulduggery wasn't really paying much attention to him. He was instead looking over at Charade, who was standing in the middle of the room, talking to a group of mages. They had been separated after their dance, since everyone needed to talk to either of them. He had reluctantly let go of her hand and been led away, not without noticing the gaping grins that Valkyrie was flashing at him. He was never going to hear the end of this.

His head tilted, something wasn't right. He looked around slowly. What was wrong? He looked around again, glanced up to the dome ceiling. The chain, holding the chandelier up, the chain was going to break. It was slowly ripping from the roof. He looked back down to the ground and saw that Charade was standing directly underneath, he knew it was going to break. He raised his arms and blew a gust of wind knocking people out of the way and sprinted into charade "RUN!" he shouted. He caught her and knocking her to the floor, covered her body over.

CRASH

The whole of the ball room went silent as the chandelier hit the floor meters away from where charade had been standing. It smashed into thousands of pieces. And an explosion of glass was thrown out to the dance floor. Charade had no idea what was happening, one minute she was talking to Rain Clash, and then she heard shouting and she hit the floor, a familiar body surrounding her. She closed her eyes and shielded her head with her arms, skulduggery covering her back, holding her close. She could feel pieces of glass hitting the floor around her. After the crashing went silent she opened her eyes, and felt the weight lift off of her slightly. She rolled over and looked up into Skulduggery's face in the dim light. He bent down and kissed her softly on the forehead, she just quietly whispered a thank you and let him help her to her feet. All the elementals in the room lit up flames in their hands as chaos spread out through the room. The backup lights came on ad everyone could see again; however what the saw was not the best of sights. There were various different people around the outskirts of the ballroom were being held around the neck with a gun pointed to their heads. There were about thirty of them. Valkyrie was standing on the other side of the remains of the chandelier.

Everyone went quiet and there was a loud, slow clap emitting from the door. A man walked into the room and laughed, he strolled near to the middle of the room and looked over the top of the chandelier at skulduggery "well, well Mr. Pleasant, that heroic rescue warrants a round of applause. You saved the girl, and endangered 30 people at the same time! Well done," the man spoke with a condescending tone. Skulduggery raised an eyebrow sceptically, "I don't quite believe we have had the pleasure of meeting before Mr..."

"Please call me Haunting, Haunting Smith."

"Mr. Smith, what is it you actually plan to gain from this..." Skulduggery gestured around him, "...plan per say? And how do you know who I am?"

"Well I thought everyone knew the marvellous skeleton detective, although you're not quite as skeletal as before... I have seen you take down some of the big bad guys; you know the likes of baron Vengeous and Serpine, the Diablarie and the faceless ones, so I thought I might have the pleasure of taking you down, as well as some of the more esteemed members of the Irish council..."

Skulduggery looked around again and saw that both Ghastly and Erskine had guns aimed at their heads, along with a few other members he noticed were quite high in the power place. Skulduggery turned back to the man, "right, so I can see the basics behind this plan, but I think you're missing a tiny flaw. You see you've just walked into a room full of some of the most powerful sorcerers and mages in this country, alongside some of the best combat fighters, and you've decided that you, and thirty men with guns, who lets admit it here, sure they're big but they don't look like the brightest of the bunch do they? Anyway, you've decided that that's going to be enough to beat us?"

The man smiled "Ahh but Mr. Pleasant you're not armed..."

"Well now you see," skulduggery pulled the pistol from inside his jacket pocket and aimed it at Mr. Smiths head,

"you didn't let me finish, even though you are now armed, you're greatly outnumbered..." and with that the windows on the far side of the hall smashed and over a hundred Hench men were standing outside, they all looked exactly alike. They were reflections, but by the way that they moved, as one, as an army, they had been trained.

"Well, let the fun begin," and Skulduggery fired two shots so fast you might have missed them, and Mr. Smith was on the floor. The Hench men attacked, but no more gun shots were heard. He saw Ghastly knock out the man restraining him, and Erskine was standing on top of his. As the Hench men swarmed though, there were little fights breaking out everywhere, skulduggery lost sight of Valkyrie but he knew it would be okay, she could handle herself. Charade and skulduggery ended up back to back, with five of the Hench men surrounding them.

"I can't believe you brought a gun to a ball!" Charade hissed at skulduggery,

He simply shrugged, "I never leave anywhere without it, and it proved to come in handy, didn't it? And don't you think we have bigger problems to be dealing with?"

"Fine, first one to put their two down, gets the fifth," and she grinned at him, as she advanced toward the massive man in front of her and punched him three times to the face, one to the gut, a knee to the head and a kick to the side and he was down. And she had done all of this in less than ten seconds flat. She turned and grinned at skulduggery again and called "your losing skulduggery!"

Skulduggery knew he was in love.

* * *

Ten minutes later, the numbers of Hench men had been reduced to a third, and there were few left, some of the mages were treating wounds, and some were still fighting. Skulduggery and charade were near the middle of the floor, fighting one Hench man each when Charades fell to the floor and she looked around, she saw Valkyrie fighting a man, and doing a mighty fine job of it as well, when she saw movement from behind her. Mr. Smith was crawling his way towards a gun that was lying on the floor and he aimed it at Valkyrie. Charade ran and knocked Valkyrie over, as the gun shot rang out.

There was a cool sensation coming from Charade's stomach and she was finding it hard to breath.

Skulduggery turned around once his Hench man had been knocked down, he saw charade with fear on her face running towards Valkyrie, then the gun shot rang out and echoed off of the walls, enveloping Skulduggery's head. He looked at the direction the shot had come from, and fired two more shots into Mr. Smith. He went limp and didn't move again.

"Skulduggery!" he heard screamed from his apprentices mouth as he turned and saw charade with a hand grasped to her waist. She looked pale and as if she was going to faint. Then he saw the thin red trail leak between her fingers. She was unsteady on her feet, and skulduggery ran and caught her just before she hit the floor. He kneeled on the round and saw the bright red of her dress slowly become darker and darker, her hand became red and her ragged breathing was unsteady and quick. She looked up to him,

"You always..seem... To catch me.. When I .. fall" she said slowly, gasping between each word and forcing a smile on her face. "Skulduggery, I .. thin, I think.. I'm in .. l-love with you" she said between breaths with a pain filled smile aimed up at him, tears brimming in her eyes, threatening to spill over

"I love you too" he whispered down to her, pain and sorrow flooding his eyes, "Now listen to me," he said with a touch more force this time, "you've survived a lot worse than this before, and you aren't going to die on me now." He snaked his arm beneath her legs and lifted her up, cradling her gently as she winced with nearly each move. "Fletcher!" he called, not wanting to waste a second, every second was a second closer to losing her. Fletcher appeared by his side, "sanctuary." skulduggery said, and they were in the medical bay. He laid her down gently, and stroked the hair from her face as she smiled and winced in pain. She had one tear running down her cheek which he gently away with a finger, and he kissed her softly on the lips. Her eye lids closed and her body relaxed. Doctors flooded in and ushered him out of the way.

* * *

Charade woke to the smell of anti bacterial and disinfectant, and knew that she was in a hospital. She generally disliked hospitals, and usually avoided them. She opened her eyes to the harsh white light and tried to sit up. There was a fire raging in her stomach and she looked down to find numerous stitched holding her together. Aha, she remembered being shot now. Failing her attempt a sitting up, she sort of shuffled her way up the bed and made herself sort of comfortable when valkyrie walked in.

"Oh, hey you're up! How do you feel?" she spoke gently and came to the side of the bed and sat down.

"Just dandy, I mean the hole in my stomach is a little bit tender, but other than that I'm okay." She said cheerily.

"Yeah about that, I'm really truly sorry about tha-"

"Valkyrie, hush! It wasn't your fault some mad man raided the ball, a not so bright mad man at that is he dead?" Valkyrie nodded "good, anyway, it wasn't your fault."

"Thank you, thank you so much." Valkyrie said, true gratitude in her voice.

"It was no bother, and at least I wasn't bleeding on the ball room floor just for the attention." And she chuckled, winced and shook her head deciding that she wasn't going to do that again anytime soon. "What happened after I was shot?"

"Well the few Hench men left were taken down with ease; they were all being taken care off when I left. There were few who were wounded from the actual fighting, more from the chandelier falling down, just scratches and cuts. I think you were the worst casualty there actually."

"As always!" and she smiled charade lowered her voice "where is he?" she was starting to feel lost without him. Valkyrie smiled and pointed into the corner of the room. Has was sitting on one of the chairs in the corner, that charade hadn't noticed before. He had taken his facade down, taken off his jacket and bow tie, undone the top two buttons of his shirt and rolled the sleeves up his forearms. She panicked when she saw blood on the front of his dress shirt, but then realised it must be hers.

"He hasn't left since they finished working on you, he's been sat there for four hours now, and we should probably wake him up." Valkyrie got up to nudge his shoulder.

"Oh I was just gunna suggest throwing something at his head, but I suppose your idea is nicer."

"I can here you, you know?" Skulduggery looked up from where he was sitting and tilted his head, charade blushed and then smiled. He tilted his head in a way of smiling back at her.

"Okay... well I'm just gunna..." Valkyrie gestured to the door and swiftly left.

Skulduggery walked soundlessly over to the side of the bed. "You alright?" he said softly.

"I'm fine, it seems that I have to say thank you too much to you lately."

"I don't mind, as long as you're okay..."

Charade smiled up at him, he was holding her hand and rubbing his thumb softly over the back off it. "I'm just a little tender, but I think ill survive" she whispered, looking down, blushing slightly. Skulduggery moved his body closer and leaned in whilst pressing his facade tattoo. He lifted her head and she was met by those beautiful eyes.

"Don't scare me like that again, okay?" he whispered.

"I'll try not to..."

Her eyes closed as she leaned forward, in to the oncoming kiss. She slid her arms around his neck and pulled him down so he was sitting on the side off the bed. He wrapped his arms around her waist and gently pulled her closer to him. She smiled and broke for air and he planted tens of little precious kisses all down her neck, and then moved back up to touch her soft lips with his. When they broke apart the next time he gently shifted behind her and they both lay back on the pillows that had propped her up. He had his arms around her waist, gentle not to touch her wound, and she had her fingers laced through his. She laid her head on his chest and mumbled "if that's what I get every time I'm in hospital, then I'm going to have to come here more often..." skulduggery smiled and kissed the top of her head. Hey lay there, perfectly fitting to each other's bodies, the rhythm of his pulse soothing her with every beat.

* * *

yeah so she got shot (i felt the need) but i couldnt kill her. ah well, sorry bout the rubbish ending...


End file.
